Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Oberstar Pushes for More Gas Taxes to Fix Nation's

MINNEAPOLIS -- The 35W bridge collapse anniversary is just ten days away, and Sunday, Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar toured two metro area bridges.

The politician is calling for a comprehensive federal highway and bridge reconstruction program.

"We have to have a more robust investment regardless of whether the bridge collapsed. We have to make that jump from $286 to $450 billion or our economy will grind to a halt," he says.

Oberstar says the only way to get the funding to improve the nation's bridges is to raise taxes at the pump. But the proposed federal increases are sure to cause controversy when fuel prices are already breaking budgets.[snip]

The investment is needed. It should be paid for. What is it about responsible politicians that so disturbs you Harv3?

For some, Beechhouse, it is impossible to hold the concepts of "responsible" and "politician" in the same head. I find it ironic, often, that the same people who decry courts "legislating from the bench" have no problem with the President "making up authority" that doesn't exist in the Constitution, or object to any regulation as "infringing the right to keep and bear arms," but see no contradiction when the administration unilaterally asserts the authority to wiretap without warrants, notwithstanding the Fourth Amendment's protection of "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." It's the same "people" isn't it?

The problem is that a legislator told the truth: we need things, and things cost money, and the money we use comes from taxpayers and there isn't enough so we need to get more money from the taxpayers. It is easier to decry the state of things, fight against any taxation, and call all legislators liars, or worse, than to acknowledge that he has a point.

WASHINGTON -- Soaring gasoline prices are hurting Uncle Sam in the wallet too.

As motorists cut back on their driving and buy more fuel-efficient cars, the government is taking in less money from the federal gasoline tax.

The result: The principal source of funding for highway projects will soon hit a big financial pothole. The federal highway trust fund could be in the red by $3.2 billion or more next year.

The fund, set to finance about $40 billion in transportation projects next year, is increasingly strained. And the problem has taken on greater urgency as lawmakers face a backlog of projects to maintain the nation's aging interstate highway system and ease traffic congestion.

"The situation has only been exacerbated by rising fuel prices, which are causing motorists to drive less and resulting in less revenue for transportation improvements," said David Bauer, senior vice president for government relations at the American Road and Transportation Builders Assn.

California risks losing $930 million, or about a third of its federal highway allotment, Caltrans Director Will Kempton said in a letter to the state's congressional delegation. Kempton warned that unless Washington acted to address the shortfall, projects could be delayed, reduced or canceled.

In the short run, lawmakers are scrambling to figure out how to close the gap. Federal highway spending nationwide could be cut by a third beginning Oct. 1, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Assn.[snip]